After killing the mother, the lioness shows compassion by sparing the baboon

A photographer recently recorded a fascinating interaction between a 350-pound lioness and a young baboon on video in a Botswana game area. The pictures showed when the baboon’s mother was slain, leaving the baby open to the attacker. Amazingly, the lioness didn’t attack the infant; instead, she enjoyed a sweet time with the youngster as it tried to nurse her, and the big cat subtly joined in. Finally, the infant was saved by his brave father.

The breathtaking images were taken in November 2022 by photographer Evan Schiller and his wife, Lisa Holzwarth, on a game drive at Selinda Camp in northern Botswana. A group of baboons came dashing through the underbrush while the couple was viewing a leopard, creating a racket. Soon after, two lionesses charged at the baboons from the top of the thick grass. A newborn baboon was left motherless and vulnerable to predators during the unrest.

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The baby baboon tried to hide in a neighboring tree, but one of the lionesses started playing “cat and mouse” with it. Every time the infant tried to climb higher, the lioness would knock it off the tree trunk, and they began an interesting game of chase. The lioness eventually grabbed the baboon and put it in its jaws. Still, instead of attacking, she let the little monkey “suckle” for a while before lifting it back up. The father of the infant baboon then intervened to save it.

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Holzwarth called the incident the high point of their journey when she later wrote about it on her blog, The LEO Chronicles. She described the scene as chaotic and captivating, with baboons screaming and lionesses howling. She said that the infant baboon was less than a month old and could not find refuge in a stealthy or rapid manner.

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The photographer and his wife were overjoyed to have seen such an amazing natural event and were eager to share it with the world. They anticipate that doing this will increase public awareness of the value of conserving wildlife and its beauty.